Media as a Vaccine against Critical Thinking

Abstract

Human communication is of a persuasive character, since the perspective to determine the difference between fact and opinion differ according to sociological and cultural backgrounds. Media sets the ground for building stereotypes by imposing the ideas to the recipients. It makes media a tool for persuasive communication thus producing the effects of what a vaccine injection might do to a human body. As language is one of the most used tools in media, this stealthy persuasion operates on a subtle "antigens" infiltrated in the context of the media text. "Mind vaccinating" recipients by media eventually can lead to stereotyped perceptions and produce prejudice. In this metaphor vaccine antigens offer a persuasive perspective on reality immune to other perspectives but that one that is imposed by media. If a recipient in the communication process understands the threat then the persuasive effects are lessened as is explained in inoculation theory. If the threat is candy wrapped in media content, as is done so by the demand of market and recipients themselves (and imposed by politics and corporation interest), then the threat is no longer understood as a threat by the recipient. The immune system is vaccinated and protected from the disease of free thinking. The disease represents a reality that is not shape shifted by someone else. Shape shifted reality is distributed through the vaccines. Media being the vaccine makes it a powerful tool in the persuasive strategy for shape shifting the reality based on framed and reframed facts and opinions of the majority in democratized media.   Media is consciously or unconsciously shape shifting the reality, which makes it a tool of persuasion.